Qj. Chen et al., Ineffective control of murine cytomegalovirus by IE1-specific cytotoxic T lymphocytes during protracted infection in the lung, ARCH VIROL, 145(7), 2000, pp. 1291-1304
Interstitial pneumonia caused by cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a fatal disease i
n immunocompromised patients. In order to examine the defense mechanism aga
inst the virus in the lung, we employed an intratracheal infection model in
susceptible mice. In mice infected intratracheally with murine CMV, a prot
racted infection was observed where infectious virus was detected up to 21
days of infection. During this prolonged infection, massive accumulation in
the lung of CD8(+) T cells with activated phenotypes occurred and these CD
8(+) T cells showed direct ex vivo cytolytic activity against target cells
pulsed with the nonamer peptide derived from IE1 protein of the virus, whic
h has been shown to be the dominant epitope recognized by most of virus-spe
cific CTL. Moreover, adoptive transfer of in vitro induced IE1 peptide-spec
ific CTL line showed no anti-virus effect in the lung, although they were e
ffective in the spleen. Hence, there is reason to assume the IE1-specific C
TL induced in vivo or in vitro plays limited roles during the prolonged inf
ection in the lung.